Julio Urías finishes third in National League Cy Young Award voting

Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías finished third in National League Cy Young Award voting, announced Wednesday by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara won the award unanimously, capturing all first-place votes.

Urías received seven second-place votes, nine third-place votes, five fourth-place votes, and one fifth-place votes to finish third, named on 22 of 30 ballots. Braves left-hander Max Fried finished second.

Seven points are awarded for each first-place vote, four points for each second-place vote, three point points every third-place vote, two points for each fourth-place vote, and one point per fifth-place vote. BBWAA has the full voting breakdown.

Urías was a stalwart in the Dodgers rotation for a second year in a row, the first Los Angeles pitcher to start 30 games in consecutive seasons since Zack Greinke in 2014-15.

“He just posts, every single day. He goes out and gives us. chance to win ballgames,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said on MLB Network earlier Wednesday. “He limits damage, gets a lot of soft contact. He doesn’t walk a ton of guys. We’re always in ballgames when he takes the ball. There’s a lot of games when he takes the ball when he wasn’t 100 percent, and the next thing you know you look up and he’s six innings, one run, six innings, seven innings, no runs, that type of thing.

“He really has a calming presence on our staff and on our team when he takes the mound.”

Urías in 2022 led the National League in ERA (2.16) and ERA+ (194) in his 31 starts in 2022, striking out 166 against 41 walks in 175 innings.

Urías also led the league in on-base percentage allowed (.251), and finished in the top three in the NL in WHIP (0.960), batting average against (.199), and wins (17).

Alcantara finished second in ERA (2.28) but did so in 228⅔ innings, 23⅔ more than any other major league pitcher and 53⅔ more innings than Urías.

This is the second straight year Urías has received Cy Young Award votes. In 2021 the left-hander finished tied for seventh place, garnering three fifth-place votes.

This year, Urías was especially great down the stretch, allowing only 14 runs over his final 14 starts, with a 1.27 ERA during that span. He was tabbed to start the opener of the National League Division Series, the first Game 1 start of Urías’ career.